Olympus compact system camera to take on Fujifilm X100 in retro stakes

With all eyes on Las Vegas for CES 2012, which kicks off next week, Olympus is rumoured to be about to throw a CSC-shaped curve ball into the equation and announce its latest camera at the beginning of February, completely bypassing the big tech expo.

The gossip mongering is pointing towards an announcement in the second week of February for the under-fire Japanese company with regards to a brand spanking new compact system camera, one that will take on the likes of the Fujifilm FinePix X100, and rock with an integrated viewfinder.

There's not much other spec info at present, but reports suggest a weather-sealed unit for the new camera.

There are also murmurs that Fujifilm may have a similar setup ready to announce at the same time, although the speculation is that, rather than going head-to-head, the two new cameras will be connected somehow. Olympus and Fujifilm have teamed up in the past, remember, such as with xD memory cards back in 2002.

There's also talk that Fujifilm may be interested in buying out, or taking a stake in, Olympus following the huge accounting scandal it is currently engulfed in.

Olympus hasn't revealed anything official with regards to the new camera as of yet but, rest assured, we'll let you know as soon as there is.